Delhi HC grants bail to PFI leaders, finds prima facie lack of evidence in money laundering case

The three were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in September 2022.

Justice Jasmeet Singh, while granting bail, observed that stringent conditions under special statutes should not be used as a means to detain accused persons without the possibility of an expeditious trial.

The Court further stated that merely charging an individual under such provisions should not equate to punishment, as it would violate their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The Court stated that, based on the arguments presented, the offence of money laundering had not been substantiated against the accused. While the conditions under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) were met, the Court concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prima facie support the charges of money laundering against the petitioners.

Court also stated that it is evident that there is no hard and fast formula as to what is the minimum period which is to be considered as substantial period undergone but keeping in view the timelines of the Supreme Court and the trial will take considerable time to conclude, the petitioners i.e. Parvez Ahmed, Mohd Ilyas and Abdul Muqeet are directed to be released on bail

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated that during the investigation, it was uncovered that over Rs. 60 Crores had been deposited into the bank accounts of PFI since 2009, with Rs. 32.03 Crores deposited in cash. Several booklets related to cash donations for the period of March 2020 were recovered and seized from PFI's national headquarters.

Upon scrutiny, these booklets were found to be incomplete, with many donor details missing, making it impossible to identify the donors or verify the legitimacy of the donations. In many cases, the identity of the purported donors and the authenticity of the cash donations could not be established, suggesting that the details of these donors were deliberately concealed, possibly indicating they did not exist, it stated.

ED also stated Investigation has revealed that such fund collection exercise was a sham and was falsely projected to be received from PFI sympathizers and was further revealed that these transactions were bogus. Hence, cash from suspicious sources was nothing but proceeds of crime generated out of criminal conspiracy to disturb communal harmony, incite violence through riots and other unlawful activities for spreading terror across India.

Thus, by concealing, possessing and acquiring proceeds of crime raised in India and abroad as part of criminal conspiracy and by thereafter projecting such funds as untainted money (by preparing bogus cash donations slip/receipts), the petitioners have been directly involved been knowingly a party to the various processes and activities connected with the proceeds of crime and thus committed the offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 of PMLA. (ANI)